Valmo Kriisa (born 18 May 1974) is an

Estonian Estonian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Estonia, a country in the Baltic region in northern Europe * Estonians, people from Estonia, or of Estonian descent * Estonian language * Estonian cuisine * Estonian culture See also

former professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

player.

Career

Kriisa played at the

point guard The point guard (PG), also called the one or the point, is one of the Basketball positions, five positions in a regulation basketball game. A point guard has perhaps the most specialized role of any position and is usually the shortest player ...

and

shooting guard The shooting guard (SG), also known as the two, two guard or off guard,Shooting guards are 6'3"–6'7"BBC Sports academy URL last accessed 2006-09-09. is one of the five traditional basketball positions, positions in a regulation basketball game ...

positions. Kriisa started his senior club career with "KK Tartu" team ( Tartu Ülikool/Rock) in 1990 and after 96–97 season he moved to "Nybit". He spent the 2000–01 season in

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

with

Södertälje BBK Södertälje Basketbollklubb, shortly SBBK, is a Swedish professional basketball club based in Södertälje. The city is located in Eastern Södermanland, 34 km south of Stockholm. Its men's team plays in the Swedish Basketball League (SBL) a ...

. Kriisa then returned to Estonia, signed for two seasons with "BC Kalev" and won the Estonian Championship titles in 2002 and 2003. On seasons 2003–2006 he played for the

Dutch Dutch or Nederlands commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands ** Dutch people as an ethnic group () ** Dutch nationality law, history and regulations of Dutch citizenship () ** Dutch language () * In specific terms, i ...

Eredivisie team Hanzevast Capitals. During this period he won the Dutch Championship in 2004. After three seasons in The Netherlands, Kriisa came back to Estonia and joined

BC Kalev/Cramo BC Kalev, also known as BC Kalev/Cramo for sponsorship reasons, is a professional basketball club based in Tallinn, Estonia. The team plays in the Korvpalli Meistriliiga (KML), the Estonian-Latvian Basketball League and the FIBA Europe Cup. Their ...

. He spent three seasons with Kalev winning one Estonian Championship. In 2007 he was named the Estonian Basketball Player of the Year. Kriisa spent the 2009-10 season with

BC Rakvere Tarvas BC Tarvas is a professional basketball club based in Rakvere, Estonia. The club competes in the Estonian-Latvian Basketball League. Their home arena is the Rakvere Sports Hall. History 2006–2017 Rakvere Tarvas was founded in 2006 by Andres Sõb ...

helping the team to the Estonian league finals for the first time. Though Tarvas lost to Tartu Ülikool/Rock, Kriisa was named the KML Most Valuable Player. In the 2010-11 season Kriisa played for TTÜ/Kalev. Beginning in 1995, Kriisa was a member of the Estonia men's national basketball team and was also a member of the Estonian

EuroBasket 2001 The 2001 FIBA European Championship, commonly called FIBA EuroBasket 2001, was the 32nd FIBA EuroBasket regional basketball championship held by FIBA Europe, which also served as Europe qualifier for the 2002 FIBA World Championship, giving a ...

squad.

Personal life

He is the father of Kerr Kriisa, who has played U.S. college basketball at the

University of Arizona The University of Arizona (Arizona, U of A, UArizona, or UA) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Tucson, Arizona, United States. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, it ...

and

West Virginia University West Virginia University (WVU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university with its main campus in Morgantown, West Virginia, United States. Its other campuses are those of the West Virginia University Ins ...

and will play his final season of college basketball in 2024–25 at the

University of Kentucky The University of Kentucky (UK, UKY, or U of K) is a Public University, public Land-grant University, land-grant research university in Lexington, Kentucky, United States. Founded in 1865 by John Bryan Bowman as the Agricultural and Mechanical ...

Honours

Club

;Nybit *

Estonian Basketball Cup The Estonian Cup (), also known as the Kaamos SuperCup for sponsorship reasons, is an annual cup competition for Estonian basketball teams. It is organized by the Estonian Basketball Association. Until the 2000–01 season, the cup tournament was ...

: 1998 ;Tallinna Kalev *

Korvpalli Meistriliiga The Korvpalli Meistriliiga (KML) is the top-tier men's basketball league in Estonia. The league is organized by the Estonian Basketball Association and played under rules of basketball#International Rules of Basketball, FIBA rules. The competitio ...

: 2001–02, 2002–03 *

: 2001 ;Hanzevast Capitals *

Dutch Basketball League The Dutch Basketball League (DBL), formerly the Eredivisie, was the highest professional basketball league in the Netherlands, run by the Federatie Eredivisie Basketball (FEB). Since 2021, the league has been replaced by the Belgian-Dutch BNXT Le ...

: 2003–04 *

Dutch Cup The KNVB Beker (; ), branded as the TOTO KNVB Beker for sponsorship reasons, is a competition in the Netherlands organised by the Royal Dutch Football Association (KNVB) since 1898. It was based on the format of the English FA Cup. Outside the N ...

: 2005 ;Kalev/Cramo *

: 2008–09 *

: 2006, 2007, 2008 ;University of Tartu *

: 2014–15 *

: 2013, 2014

Individual

* Estonian Basketball Player of the Year: 2007 * KML Most Valuable Player:

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

* KML Best Defender:

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

* All-KML First Team:

KML Keyhole Markup Language (KML) is an XML notation for expressing geographic annotation and visualization within two-dimensional maps and three-dimensional Earth browsers. KML was developed for use with Google Earth, which was originally named Key ...

All-Star:

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...

External links

Profile
at basket.ee
Profile
at bbl.net {{DEFAULTSORT:Kriisa, Valmo 1974 births Living people BC Kalev/Cramo players BC Rakvere Tarvas players BC Valga players Donar (basketball club) players Estonian expatriate basketball people in the Netherlands Estonian expatriate basketball people in Sweden Estonian men's basketball players Korvpalli Meistriliiga players Point guards Södertälje BBK players Sportspeople from Pärnu University of Tartu basketball team players TTÜ KK players KK Kalev players